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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. I've got to change the light ________________.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. march — music
  3. bulb — for light
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. land — a country
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. field — a subject
  9. march — the month
  10. fork — in a road
  11. cell — a phone
  12. field — farmland
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. field — for sport
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. land — to come down
  17. land — ground
  18. snap — to click
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. bulb — for light
  24. cell — in biology

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com